Thursday, August 13, 2009

Political Digest for August 13 2009

Obama Cites Post Office in Healthcare DebateAs you no doubt heard, in NH President BO said, “I think private insurers should be able to compete. They do it all the time. I mean, if you think about, if you think about it, um, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. Right? The, uh, no they are. I mean, it's the post office that's always having problems.” Never mind that’s because the government runs the Post Office, or the fact that few folks would want the USPS to be in charge of their healthcare.

UPS and FedEx have some advantages in the market that insurance companies don’t have. They get to compete nationwide, insurance companies can’t compete across state lines. They don’t have hundreds of mandates as to what services they are required to provide, as insurance companies do. Insurance operates in a government-controlled market, not a free market, and government-controlled markets are expensive, inefficient and political. And their product isn’t under threat of thousands of lawsuits, a situation that won’t change for healthcare as long as the League of Leftwing Lawyers is in charge of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives.

They do have to deal with laws designed to protect the postal union. You buy a mailbox, but even if you give them permission, FedEx cannot leave a package in your mailbox, due to federal law at the behest of the postal union. Imaging what your healthcare will look like when the federal healthcare unions get to lobby what’s best for their members, not for you.

Third World Care? (A Short Must Read)Buffeted by growing outrage that ObamaCare will ruin quality medical care in America, a top administration official has resorted to telling desperate lies.http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=334882846847336Excerpt: 'Frankly," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a recent meeting of AFL-CIO leaders, "the health delivery system is under-delivering in terms of quality of care. We spend over twice as much as any nation on earth, and our health results look like we're a developing country." Tell that to all the princes and potentates from developing countries who flock to America for lifesaving treatment. Saudi billionaires could go anywhere in the world to cure what ails them, but they check into the Mayo Clinic or the Texas Medical Center. And poll after poll shows Americans are much more satisfied with the quality of their care than their counterparts in industrialized countries with government-run health care. More than 70% of adults in countries with government-controlled health care — Britain, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, as well as Canada — complain that their systems need either "fundamental change" or "complete rebuilding."

That's because they wait longer for treatment and die sooner than Americans from common cancers and other diseases, according to a study by Dr. Scott W. Atlas, a Hoover Institution senior fellow and chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center. Consider breast cancer mortality, which is 88% higher in Britain and 9% higher in Canada. Or prostate cancer mortality, which is 604% higher in Britain and 184% higher in Canada.

Please help Rifqa Bary: "I am fighting for my life, you guys don't understand...he said he would kill me"http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/027189.phpExcerpt: Listen to her carefully. Watch this. Watch it again. It is heartbreaking, and it is true. Send it to everyone you know. I have been trying all day to reach someone connected with her case -- unsuccessfully -- in order to give solid information about Islamic apostasy law, contrary to the lies being spread in court by Islamic authorities. But the threatening of this girl must not be allowed to stand in the United States. Are we still a free people? You'll note also that this is a girl who was raised as a Muslim, and who knows what Islamic law is regarding apostates. Contrast her palpable fear to the lies of the smooth apologists who claim that Islam does not mandate death for those who leave Islam. Rifqa Bary knows better, and not because she is an "Islamophobe," but from her personal experience.

Trust the Governmenthttps://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&zx=1loa9gdrk0ybc&shva=1#inbox/1230e5c1215f98ecExcerpt: How much is one additional year of your life worth? Or one more year of life for your father or your wife? For your child? In Great Britain, the government has settled on a number: $45,000. That's how much a government commission with the Orwellian acronym NICE has decided British government-run health care will pay for one additional year of life for a British subject.

Nelson Strikes Backhttp://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/morning-fix-nelson-strikes-bac.html?wprss=thefixExcerpt: Meanwhile, forces on the ideological right -- including some of the angry element at town halls across the country -- are pressuring these same senators to abandon the plan entirely due, in large part, to their belief that the public option would destroy private insurance altogether. Watch to see how those 13 Democratic senators -- Max Baucus (Mont.), Mark Begich (Alaska), Robert Byrd (W.Va.), Kent Conrad (N.D.), Byron Dorgan (N.D.), Tim Johnson (S.D.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Nelson, Mark Pryor (Ark.), Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.) and Jon Tester (Mont.) -- who represent states that Obama lost in 2008 react to this health care cross-pressuring. The White House needs Democratic unity -- or something very close to it -- to pass a health care bill in the fall. Can they get it amid the increasingly contentious ad wars in the states?

Miracle on Wacker Drivehttp://www.redstate.com/robert_a_hahn/2009/08/11/miracle-on-wacker-drive/Excerpt: I’m unfamiliar with the details, but apparently there is some provision in Obama’s plan that expands the number of doctors, nurses, hospital beds, etc., to instantly accommodate 47 million more people. It usually takes eight to ten years to school a new doctor, so whatever the Democrats are doing here is a major advance. We should begin sharing it immediately with the Third World, where doctor shortages have long been a problem. Thank goodness they won’t be here, if this plan passes.

Elderly Swing Against Obama Planhttp://townhall.com/columnists/DickMorrisandEileenMcGann/2009/08/12/elderly_swing_against_obama_planExcerpt: The most ominous signal yet for the Obama health-care plan emerged in the poll by Scott Rasmussen released today. While public support for the plan fell to a new low (42 percent support, 53 percent oppose -- down five points in two weeks), the elderly emerged as the strongest opposition group. Those over 65 rejected the plan by 39 percent to 56 percent, while almost half -- 46 percent -- said they were "strongly opposed" to it.

Expanding Preventive Care May Add to Costshttp://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=18313Excerpt: Expanding preventive medical services may well improve public health, but it is highly unlikely to save the government money, says the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). In a letter to leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, CBO director Douglas W. Elmendorf said the evidence suggests that the cost of making services such as cancer screening, cholesterol management, vaccinations and wellness training broadly available would far outweigh any savings ultimately generated.

Healthcare Fact of the DayFrom Red State Briefings: http://www.paramountcommunication.com/Newsletters/Redstate/index.aspxBillions in Pork Barrel Spending for 'Community Transformation' and 'Beautification' Under the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee's "Affordable Health Choices Act," local governments can apply for "community transformation" grants to build jungle gyms, sidewalks, bicycle paths, and grocery stores, to install streetlights, and to establish new farmers' markets. The dollar amount of these grants, and of the total "community transformation" earmark program, is left to the discretion of the Obama administration. Cities can also apply for "community makeover" grants, which can provide them with up to $10 per resident in taxpayer dollars for "beautifying streets." Sen. Tom Coburn, MD (R-OK) sponsored an amendment to the HELP Committee bill that would have prevented any funds it made available from being used "to build, develop, or maintain sidewalks, parks, bike paths, or street lights." The amendment was defeated by party-line vote. The "Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009," the House of Representatives' health overhaul legislation, also contains an earmark for these grants. The House bill sets the amount available for their funding at $1.6 billion. Sources: "Affordable Health Choices Act," Title III, Subtitle C HR 3200, § 3151

How End-Users Suffer Under Socialismhttp://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=334882669428387Excerpt: Central planners announced this week that they were fresh out of money to buy toilet paper — yes, toilet paper — for the island's 9 million citizens. But not to worry. A nameless official for state-run monopoly Cimex and quoted by Reuters assured that "the corporation has taken all the steps so that at the end of the year there will be an important importation of toilet paper." The predicament would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic. But toilet tissue is hardly the only item Cuba is lacking. Food itself is in short supply, with red bean and chickpea rations cut by a third, according to the Miami Herald. Special hard-currency-only stores for the elites have mysteriously failed to open after last week's "inventory," with no explanation given. There's no gas, either. The Associated Press this week reported that state planners have decreed that oxen — yes, oxen — would replace tractors in the fields, a bid to conserve fuel. This, despite the fact that Cuba gets 100,000 barrels of oil a day from Hugo Chavez's Venezuela — effectively free, because Cuba never pays its bills.

Democracy in Danger: What States Can Do to Safeguard America's Election Systemhttp://www.heritage.org/Research/GovernmentReform/hl1129.cfmExcerpt: A long-time federal prosecutor once told me that as long as elections put people into positions where they can make decisions about how much the government will spend, who will receive the money, and how the government will exercise its power, elections will be important enough to tempt some individuals to steal them. As the Supreme Court recognized when it upheld the constitutionality of Indiana's voter identification law in 2008, flagrant examples of voter fraud "have been documented throughout this Nation's history by respected historians and journalists." Those examples "demonstrate that not only is the risk of voter fraud real but that it could affect the outcome of a close election." (But the people in charge now don’t want honest elections. They want ACORN & BP thugs to control the voting.)

Obama vs. Mathematicshttp://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=18314Excerpt: Therefore, we can't allow federal health care subsidies to continue to grow faster than inflation indefinitely. The challenge is to find ways to make the nation's commitments to retirees and others sustainable without harming economic growth prospects. In this regard, the Obama administration is charting a course in the wrong direction -- expanding entitlements on the backs of our nation's job creators. The math will work against the Obama administration and, eventually, against us all, say Gokhale and Smetters.

Expanding Preventive Care May Add to Costshttp://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=18313Excerpt: Expanding preventive medical services may well improve public health, but it is highly unlikely to save the government money, says the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). In a letter to leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, CBO director Douglas W. Elmendorf said the evidence suggests that the cost of making services such as cancer screening, cholesterol management, vaccinations and wellness training broadly available would far outweigh any savings ultimately generated.